Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2009 May 26. [Epub ahead of print]

Nutrition in heart failure: an update.

Sandek A, Doehner W, Anker SD, von Haehling S.
Applied Cachexia Research, Department of Cardiology, Charité Medical School, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Germany
Center for Stroke Research Berlin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany Centre for Clinical and Basic Research, IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, Italy.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is increasingly recognized as a multisystem disease with important comorbidities such as anemia, insulin resistance, autonomic dysbalance, or cardiac cachexia.

RECENT FINDINGS: Apart from these perturbations, increasing evidence points to alterations in intestinal morphology, permeability, and absorption function in patients with CHF. This review provides an overview of the sonographic, histological, and functional abnormalities of different gastrointestinal regions. This intestinal dysfunction and disturbed intestinal barrier may lead to both the chronic inflammatory state and catabolic/anabolic imbalance as seen in cardiac cachexia, as a terminal stage of CHF, which carries a particularly poor prognosis. This review highlights the current knowledge of nutritional abnormalities that may occur in CHF, including fat, carbohydrates, proteins, water, and micronutrients. The regulation of feeding is discussed, as are nutritional strategies with potentially anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of CHF.

SUMMARY: The gut and its role for inflammation and dietary interventions in heart failure patients are a crucial target of further heart failure research.

PMID: 19474718 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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